Scams and safety

The scams readers send us most, how to spot them and what to do if one worked.

Six scams and their tells

The names change every month. The pattern does not.

Crypto can lose most or all of its value quickly, and payments cannot be reversed. Nothing on this site is financial advice: we report what happened and explain how it works, never what to buy or sell.

Giveaways

A famous name “doubles” anything you send. The video, account and site are fake.

The tell: Anything that asks you to send first.

Fake support

A helper answers your public question and sends a page that asks for your recovery phrase.

The tell: Support that found you.

Romance and friendship

A new online friend shows you an app with growing profits you can never withdraw.

The tell: A stranger who wants to teach you to invest.

Pay-in-crypto demands

A fine, tax or parcel fee “only payable” at a crypto machine.

The tell: Any official bill paid in crypto.

Recovery services

After a loss, a firm offers to get the coins back for a fee up front.

The tell: A fee before any result.

Fake apps and sites

A copy of a real wallet or exchange, bought to the top of search results.

The tell: A link from an ad or a message.

If it happened to you, in this order

Most people feel ashamed. Do not: these scams are run by professionals. Then do these five things.

Stop sending

Do not send more money to “unlock” or “recover” anything. That is the second half of the scam.

Move what is left

If anyone has your recovery phrase, make a new wallet with new words and move any remaining coins to it.

Write it all down

Addresses, amounts, dates, usernames and screenshots of every message, before they disappear.

Report it

To the police, your bank if you paid by card or transfer, and the platform where you met the scammer.

Ignore recovery offers

Anyone who offers to get the coins back for a fee is running a second scam.

Claims we are checking

Readers send us claims every day. These have fewer than four checks, so we have not reported them. If you see one, treat it as unconfirmed.

A wallet app “stops working on 1 November unless you upgrade”

Emails and texts forwarded by readers

2 of 6, checking, not reported

We have the message and a second reader’s copy. The wallet maker has not answered yet. Do not click the link in it.

Messages saying a parcel fee can be paid at a crypto machine

Texts sent to readers in Springfield (sample)

3 of 6, checking, not reported

Three copies, and the delivery company’s own page says it never asks for this. Waiting for a security researcher’s read.

A celebrity live stream “doubles any coins you send”

Video posts shared on social media

1 of 6, checking, not reported

Every giveaway like this that we have checked has been a scam. Do not send anything.

“A new law bans holding crypto from January”

A chain message

0 of 6, no source yet

No source yet: we found no bill, filing or announcement.

Claims and counts (sample). A claim leaves this list when it is reported, or when we find it is false.